A History of The United States Civil Rights Movement in 1960'S Against The Racial Discrimination in The Film Ghosts of Mississippi

The civil rights movement in the 1960’s was a struggle by the African Americans to achieve civil rights equal to those of the whites!. The Civil Rights Movement was enacted in order to create a legal equality in which African Americans would get the same legal treatments as the white population. Leaders of this movement include Martin Luther King Jr., Malcom X W.E.B Du Bois, and Medgar Evers. During this time, the color of one’s skin defined a whole southern region in the United States of America The film. Ghosts of Mississippi, accurately represents the civil rights movement in the 1960’s. At this time, the justice system become corrupt with racism leading to unfair trials throughout the south.

The Civil Rights Movement was enacted in order to create a legal equality in which African Americans would get the same legal treatments as the white population. Leaders of this movement include Martin Luther King Jr., Malcom X, W.E.B Du Bois, and Medgar Evers.

Medgar Evers was born in 1925, in Mississippi. Mr. Evers was born into the time of segregation where it was a crime to even to use the same fountain or bathroom as white citizens. Despite this social normality, after high school Medgar enrolled at Alcom State University and majored in business administration. He stayed busy in college by taking part in sports and being the president of his junior class. On December 24″ 1951, he married Myrlie Beasley, the women who will end up fighting for her husband’s case to get justice. Medgar Evers was a part of the NAACP, National Association for the Advanced of Colored People, which contributed to his death because he was a witness bringing Emmitt Till to trial on a murder case’. On June 12, 1963 Medgar was murdered in his front yard.

The film Ghost of Mississippi is based on Myrlie Evers getting justice for her husband’s murder case that happened 27 years earlier. Bobby DeLaughter, the lawyer who fought for Medgar Evers case, reopened the case because the first time the case went to be tried it was led by a racist judge and jury resulting in an unfair trial. Nobody supported the reopening of the case because justice of an African American was not seen as a civil right to people at that time. At the beginning of the new trial, Byron Beckwith, the man accused of murdering Mr. Evers, had a superior mentality over the Evers family because of the color of his skin. The color of his skin was the reason why he was not found guilty in the first place. Along with the superior feeling Mr. Beckwith also had a care-free attitude about the new trial just like the rest of the white race in the surrounding area.

Mr. Beckwith did not have any shame in the fact that he shot Mr. Evers. “Killing that nigger gave me more comfort than our wives endure when they give birth to our children” Mr. Beckwith felt the same joy killing an African American man as a women bringing their child into the world. The racism and superiority did not stop when people started to see that Beckwith was truly guilty. During the reopened trial he said, “That nigger needed to be shot”. Mr. Evers was shot because he was trying to bring justice to the racist and prejudice judicial system in place. Getting equal justice for all persons was a death wish during this time. Mr. Delaughter’s family was put in harm’s way when in the middle of the night there was a bomb threat on his home. He said, “I told them (his children) if anything ever happened just to walk away. How are you supposed to walk away from a bomb?” by trying to get justice for the Evers family, Mr. Delaughter’s family is threatened and almost murdered.

Just like in the civil rights movement in the 60’s unfair trails such as Mr. Evers were common. In the case Johnson v Virginia, Ford T. Johnson appeared at a courthouse in Virginia and sat down in a section reserved for whites unknowingly. When asked to move he refused the judge sayin that he would rather stand and was charged with contempt plus a ten dollar fine. Mr. Johnson appealed and the Virginia Supreme Court ruled that his conviction was “plainly right”. After that, he appealed to the United States Supreme Court which said that he could not be charged with contempt for refusing an unconstitutional segregation rule.

In the south during the 60’s the color of one’s skin determined where you could go, who you talked to, and where you got an education. De jure segregation can be outlawed but de facto segregation and racism will always be a lingering topic in the U.S. The Civil Rights movement brought violence and injustices to the south but was a large stepping stone reach the goal of equal justice. The film, Ghosts of Mississippi, shows how a murder case during the civil rights movement was given an unfair trial but going back to it the Evers family got the correct justice for their beloved family member, Medgar Evers.

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